Faculty from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide of the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and from the Education Development Center have formed the CDC Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention (ICRC-S), a center-without-walls that will serve a catalytic role in New York State, in HHS Regions 1 and 2, and nationally, promoting public health approaches that will reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with suicide and attempted suicide, by focusing on a diverse array of common distal risks that profoundly influence the life trajectories of people, of families and of communities. The ICRC-S will serve as an engine for research, outreach and dissemination, and education. It will transform the field of suicide prevention by drawing it fully into the domain of public health and injury prevention while actively linking it to complementary mental health approaches, thus facilitating new prevention initiatives at state, regional, and national levels. Embarking on this path, the ICRC-S will: 1) enhance access to data essential for planning prevention initiatives, 2) systematically define and confront the challenges posed by preventing suicide and attempted suicide among men and women in the middle years of life, and 3) focus upon intimate partner violence as one of several areas that coalesce individual and family problems, substance misuse, and financial and economic distress as contextual contributions to suicidal behaviors and deaths. Each of the defined goals of the ICRC-S relates to our uniting theme, bridging the gaps. As we pursue our mission and goals, we will rigorously evaluate our progress, and strategically develop new initiatives with our state, regional, and national partners to create critically important linkages that serve to effectively and efficiently drive our field forward.